Introducing Thomas Was Alone, coming soon to PS3 and PS Vita

The first console I ever bought for myself was a PlayStation 2. I remember digesting every single game on the packaged demo disk in fevered anticipation, while saving up the money to buy Metal Gear Solid 2 to go with it. For the record, I always thought Raiden was cool.

Now I’ve wowed you with my PlayStation fanboy credentials, I hope you’ll understand the excitement I feel at uttering the following words: This Spring, Thomas Was Alone is coming to PlayStation 3 and PS Vita (with cross buy).

Which is, if we’re honest, ridiculous. I made a game about rectangles and friendship in my free time. I was lucky enough to find some incredible collaborators who made my script sound good, and my environments sound far more awesome than their humble rectangular graphics. I was shocked when a community formed and people actually played it. According to the internet, they liked it too.

And, thanks to the cool people at Bossa, Curve and Sony, that game is coming to a console near you, very, very soon.

Thomas Was Alone is a platformer where the goal is simple – get all the characters to their exit portals. You’ll find that becomes increasingly harder than it sounds. Use their skills in tandem, be it flotation, anti-gravity, bounciness or, well, jumping slightly higher.

Along the way, you’ll hear an awesome story narrated by Danny Wallace (Assassin’s Creed) and scored by the epically talented David Housden. On PS Vita, you can use the touchscreens to select characters, or to control the camera.

We’ve made a new creator’s commentary for the main game itself, and there’s a new timed exclusive DLC prologue about a square who is given a jetpack. I’m pretty chuffed with it. As I said. Ridiculous. But awesome.

WOW. Console quality gaming on the go. Sony as of right now you are killing and I mean murdering the Vita. Crap like this should be reserved for smartphone gaming. The Vita deserves way better than this. Hey at least Killzone will be out at the end of this year. Hopefully that won’t get screwed up like Resistance and Call of Duty for Vita was.

I bought it the day it came out for PC/Mac, and it’s one of the best platformers I played last year. Even if it’s priced at $15 (but hopefully it’ll be $9.99) it’s worth every penny. I know I’ll be buying it. Congrats on bringing Thomas to the Sony family!

Well it seems interesting but where are the inFAMOUS, God of War, Gran Turismo, proper Motorstorm, better Resistance games? Sly Cooper Thieves in Time is great but we need more games like it, how about porting Fat Princess, Dead Nation and Warhawk over to the vita?

Awesome, I love this steady flow of indie games that have been coming lately, especially for the Vita. They’re such a perfect fit. Now, Sony, go after They Bleed Pixels, Dungeons of Dredmor, Legend of Grimrock, and To The Moon on Vita, I’d absolutely buy them again to play them on there.

This is awesome. I really wanted to buy it on Steam but I just can never motivate myself to play games on my PC. I can definitely see myself playing this on my Vita.

Also, seriously, Sony, kudos for picking up all these indie titles from Steam. Incredible move and a great way to keep positioning yourself as the indie-friendly platform. Just get FTL on my Vita and we’re golden. I emailed the guys behind FTL to ask if a Vita version would ever come and they basically said that they like the Vita a lot but they have no plans to do that. It’d be totally worth it to court them though and get FTL on PS3 and Vita. That’d be a great portable game and honestly would be one of the best Vita titles, worth getting the system for. Plus, all the respect you’d get from the indie and hardcore crowds.

@18 Maxpower1096: New narrator? Danny Wallace did the original as well from what I understand.

Really excited for this to come to PS3 and Vita. I enjoy Steam but I’m not crazy about the controls on PC. Love to support indies on PS3 and Vita. There was a great article on Penny Arcade regarding Indies and the Vita and its nice to see Hotline Miami and now this coming!

would love a video … but will keep it on the radar. sounds as though it has been well received, & as I like platformers that are a little off the beaten path – I’ll look for it … “coming very very soon” . :-)

Glad to see Sony going all out with these indie titles. With Hotline Miami coming to PSN and now this, I’m excited to see more games coming to my Vita & PS3. I already played Hotline Miami and it was a blast! I only heard of this games name but seeing the trailer you posted, I like the music, narrator, & that it’s a platformer. I will be buying this and Hotline Miami to show you indie guys some love.

Now Sony has to keep the indie games coming. FTL & To The Moon would be great additions. I love both of those games.

It’s a joy to see the Vita develop into the ‘Indie’ machine. Something just makes more sense about games like Thomas Was Alone (or Sound Shapes or Bit.Trip.Runner.2) on the Vita. Very excited to make a day one purchase on this.

Obviously, Mike, you can’t change Sony policies but I’m curious if there’s any chance of Sony instituting a pre-order program for PSN games. Perhaps get a small DLC/soundtrack/theme reward, or even a slightly lower price, as a reward for supporting a product before release?

This clown doesn’t represent the whole of Playstation gamers. Most of us rather enjoy the unique indie games that are on PS3 and we expecially love to see them make their way to the Vita. Congrats on all the hard work that went into this game, and thanks for releasing it for us to enjoy.

P.S. Awesome reply to that FPS-lovin clown! More restraint than I would have been able to show.

Awesome. This combined with the news about Hotline Miami coming as well just go to show the work Sony puts in with the Indie PC crowd in bringing lauded stuff over to PSN. Can’t get enough of that exceptional relationship Sony has been able to foster.

i never heard of this game before but it look like samething fresh and new. i would love a trailer since those screen shot dont allow you to get a sence of what this game about. i would also like to ask directly how do you like the vita as a developer and do you see a future for the platform?

I am so excited for this. The Vita is becoming a fantastic platform for these kinds of “alternative” gaming experiences. I’d love to see The Binding of Isaac, Today I Die (Again), and similar games come to the platform as well.

Can we look forward to native resolution rendering and high-bitrate AAC/Ogg music assets that take advantage of the Vita’s capabilities?

Most of us here have grown to appreciate the art of simplicity and can enjoy something different. That’s why I choose Sony. People looking for rehashed first person shooters with slightly different content from game a to b should pack right up and head to the less superior console. They’d love you over there.

Just let the rest of us smile and enjoy the awesome things Sony delivers like this game. Times are changing, games are changing. And I love the direction its headed personally.